Hannah Bliersbach

Hannah Bliersbach is a Lecturer and postdoctoral researcher at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society (VVI) at Leiden University, affiliated with the 'Resilience & Security' research line under the NWO-funded project Crafting Resilience. She holds a PhD in Political Science and Public Administration (defended 2025) and previously taught at Leiden University’s Political Science Institute.

Education:

• PhD (2025): Dissertation titled "Becoming and Belonging? Lived Experiences of naturalization and the implementation of citizenship law in Germany and Canada"
• MRes in Political Science and Public Administration, Leiden University (2019)
• BA in Political Science, Sociology & English Studies, University of Bonn (2017)

Research Focus: Interdisciplinary study of citizenship policy implementation, qualitative research methodologies, and street-level bureaucracy. Explores intersections between citizenship law, discretionary decision-making by caseworkers, and legal consciousness among migrants. Key themes include crimmigration, procedural justice, and the socio-legal dimensions of naturalization processes in Germany and Canada.

Teaching: Courses on qualitative research methods, socio-legal studies, and street-level bureaucracy in English and Dutch. Former instructor of Academic Skills and Statistics at Leiden’s Political Science Institute.

Dataset: Conducted 42 semi-structured interviews for her PhD research, including naturalized citizens, caseworkers, and policymakers in Germany, Canada, and digitally. Data stored at Leiden University under strict privacy protocols.

Awards/Grants: Recipient of NWO funding for the Crafting Resilience project. No specific individual awards mentioned.

Labs/Teams: Affiliated with the VVI’s Resilience & Security research group and the interdisciplinary Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of the Law at Leiden.